It's really low to play the race card by calling racist comments against the president racist. All that does is make it so that any racist criticism of the president is dismissed as racism and shuts down racist dialogue.

He was amazing in Charleston yesterday. Everyone should check out his rendition of Amazing Grace.

That's who we elected in 2008. That's who we've had running this country this past momentous week.

The only thing I didn't care for on the performance is that he sang it in a lower key than he did on previous tours. I only watched the setlist party on periscope though, so maybe it was better in person.

I'm surprised there's been very little (if any, I haven't seen anything) discussion on this board about what Obama did here. It's also one of very numerous reasons which make me wonder why there is so much love for Obama in general.

That article is a bit unfair. It's not as if this was a Q and A and Obama just didn't want to answer. This was an event at the White House to which she had been invited, and she chose to yell and heckle as he was speaking. I don't think the president owes hecklers considered time and space to be heard and responded to.

Exactly. This isn't "Obama doesn't have time for trans people" this is "Obama doesn't have time for interrupting hecklers."

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikal

The only thing I didn't care for on the performance is that he sang it in a lower key than he did on previous tours. I only watched the setlist party on periscope though, so maybe it was better in person.

Oh sorry. Didn't read it - I thought it was about Obama (I just typed Bono instead. er .... ) being dismissive of trans, which is a theme I've seen discussed elsewhere.

I'm not going to disagree that Obama's done a lot that is seriously not cool. (Drones, detainees, other stuff along those lines.) I don't know how I feel about him overall; time will tell whether the good outweighs the bad ... or if it even CAN even the scales.

But right now people want to be happy, because something good has happened in the midst of all the devious, awful shit that happens in the world and our country. I'm sure there are politicians scheming to use our distraction to do some other shady shit behind the scenes.

I'm surprised there's been very little (if any, I haven't seen anything) discussion on this board about what Obama did here. It's also one of very numerous reasons which make me wonder why there is so much love for Obama in general.

I think the content of this has been addressed, so I'll move on to Obama love.

I think when you realize that politics is only the Art of the Possible, and that it requires compromise and often deciding on the "least worst" option, and understanding the compromises one has to make to ever attain higher office, you can begin to understand that Obama has been about as progressive as could reasonably have been hoped for. Of course he's not perfect. Of course he's made mistakes and bad decisions. It's incredibly difficult to govern a continent-country of 320m people. I think people from small countries forget just how BIG the U.S. is. 150 years ago, as we were reminded this week, over 600,000 died in a Civil War. In today's population numbers, that's like losing maybe 9m people. It's a fractious place that's held together not by shared ethnicity (like most other nations on earth) but by a sometimes vague sense of shared values and purpose. And Obama has not just held it together but made advances.

But, more importantly, he knows how to win elections.

That cannot be understated.

Because he won 2 elections he appointed 2 justices to SCOTUS who brought us to where we are today. Had we a President McCain, none of this would have happened.

Idealism is nice, but the reality is that you need to win. And in a country like this, with two parties, stability will never allow someone from either fringe to seize power. There is no revolution. There is only evolution, incremental change we can believe in.

That article is a bit unfair. It's not as if this was a Q and A and Obama just didn't want to answer. This was an event at the White House to which she had been invited, and she chose to yell and heckle as he was speaking. I don't think the president owes hecklers considered time and space to be heard and responded to.

that is ALL it was

the person could have been yelling about ISIS, child sex abuse, confederate flag and would have deserved the same response,

Obama was not unreasonable,
but now this is a talking (harping) point for FOX and Friends and right wing radio talkers, sound bites, so yummy.

Carter told an Aspen Institute audience that Obama's accomplishments on foreign policy "have been minimal" and that the United States' influence is "lower than it was six or seven years ago."

"On the world stage, I think [Obama's accomplishments] have been minimal," Carter said. "I think he has done some good things domestically, like health reform and so forth. But on the world stage, just to be objective about it, I can't think of many nations in the world where we have a better relationship now than when he took over."

"I would say the U.S.'s influence and prestige and respect in the world is probably lower than it was six or seven years ago," Carter said.